Rivals: Genius
by The You of Yesterday
Summary: Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast Maito Gai waxes lyrical on his Springtime of Youth Rival, Hatake Kakashi, the Great Copy Ninja.


Genius.

It is said that my Most Youthful Rival is a Genius, and this I can concur with.

It is said that my Rival is a genius beyond any other of his Generation. This I most heartily concur with.

It is said that our rivalry is that of Genius versus Hard Work. Although I have been known to call it thus, I do not truly believe this to be true. This would imply that my Esteemed Rival does not know the meaning of hard work when in fact the opposite is true.

A Genius must work harder than anyone else to become great. The expectations upon such a person are so much higher than those upon an ordinary person such as myself that it is easy for a Genius to crack under the pressure and become a Failure.

It is even more likely in our Shinobi World for a Child Genius to become complacent and then become bitter and vengeful upon reaching adolescence and finding Ordinary Students catching up with them. There are too many painful examples of this to list, but I will name but a few of the most noteworthy recent examples.  
Orochimaru. Uchiha Sasuke. Yakushi Kabuto.

They reach a plateau and feel they cannot progress further through normal methods. They reach out to find the power they seek through any means. These means are frequently Most Un-Youthful and damaging to the young Genius and to his Village and Loved Ones upon whom he most often exacts his Most Hateful Revenge.  
This is the type of Un-Youthful Genius which I feared my own Dear Student Hyuuga Neji may become, until he became enamoured of the Ninja Ways of the Precious Student of my Beloved Rival, that Most Youthfully Fearless young Ninja Uzumaki Naruto.

My Rival is not that type of Genius. He has put all of his Youthful Energy into his work, and has dedicated every moment of his Entire Life to becoming more powerful in the most Virtuous fashion. My Rival does not often show his Youthful Emotions in spite of my Most Powerful Encouragements, but it is not hard to see how he overflows with Passion when fighting to Protect his Precious People whom he treasures with all the Might in his Most Gallant Heart.

My Notorious and Famed Rival is in fact none other than the Great Copy Ninja Himself, Hatake Kakashi, if you had not been able to guess this by now from my very own Most Intriguing Clues!  
I am Most Honoured and Thrilled to have such a Rival as he, in spite of his annoyingly Youthful Hip and Cool Manner and his feigned Distaste for myself, the Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha.

We have trained hard together over the Long Years of our Acquaintance, and I am happy to say that although Kakashi can best me in all areas, he has yet to defeat me in my own Mastery, Taijutsu, although he is indeed most Quick, moving with an Unnatural Speed to rival my own and my most Adorable Student Rock Lee. When Kakashi reveals his Sharingan in Battle his Perception increases to a Great Extent, and with it his Speed, at which level even I, Maito Gai, Konoha's Speedy Green Beast, am indeed hard pressed to keep up!

I know how hard Kakashi has worked to become the Great Shinobi and, indeed, Great Man that he is today. He has forgone a childhood; his Most Esteemed and Heroic Father trained him relentlesley from the moment he could stand.  
This is almost too sad in itself as to persuade Great Manly Tears of Sympathy pour forth, but the rest of Kakashi's tale is sadder still, although not well-told, and it is not my Rightful Place to tell it here.

My Rival has also forgone Friends as far as is possible for one so overflowing with Magnetic Youthfulness as he, for those Friends he did allow himself to hold strongly in his heart we're cruelly ripped away from him by the Most Un-Youthful Hands of Vengeful Fate.

I do not believe Kakashi has ever truly known Pleasure in any of its many forms. Please do not assume me to mean that he has not felt the Pleasures of the Youthful Flesh, for as a Man in the Sprintime of Youth I am aware that my Rival has experienced the Loving Embrace of a Woman, although this has been more often than not experienced in the Line of Duty. There are those Missions which only those Shinobi most Beautiful and Youthful in Body can succeed in completing, which involve the Seduction of Men and Women most swayed by such arts. Kakashi has used his Youthful Beauty many times in this Most Unseemly Manner for the Good of the Village, although I would not condone such techniques and would Wholeheartedly Protect my Young Students from such a Mission, as Insincerely giving the Precious Gifts of the Body cannot fail to be Scarring, even for a Youthful Mind.

As much as I hold my Rival in High Esteem I would not wish to inflict his Most Painful Experiences onto others.

My Rival has lived a hard life filled with pain and sorrow, and his Good Heart now tries to protect others. He will take on the most difficult and Life Threatening missions alone in order that no other would have to complete them. He would Leap Wholeheartedly into the path of Shuriken to deflect the Killing Blow from another. He would look upon a man who tries to kill him with Compassion, knowing this man is no different from he. When he strikes the Killing Blow - his Raikiri which once cut Lightning slicing like butter through another's chest - my Rival would feel Sorrow and Pain for the loss of the life of another Tool, for that is how he sees Himself.

But Kakashi is not merely a tool. He is a man, with a heart and soul of a Most Youthful Pure White, which remains flawlessly unstained despite the Cruelty of the World which he has seen. He is my Eternal Rival, and as long as I shall live and fight in Glory, so shall he. I will not allow the Darkness to take his Gentle Soul.

*Manly Tears of Youthfulness*

I will protect this Man, this Sword, this Genius with all of the Power of my Youth.

Too much has been asked of my Rival, and he has given more than he has. His Heart overflows with Love but never is it returned.

He was Alone, and so I named him as my Rival in the Springtime of our Youth.

He is Alone no more and Sharingan no Kakashi will forever enjoy the Springtime of his Youth with Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast, Maito Gai!

*Nice Guy Pose against the Most Youthful Sunset*


End file.
